Palo bishop hails Duterte for not backing divorce bill

TACLOBAN CITY — In a rare occasion, President Duterte got a thumbs-up from Eastern Visayas’ top Catholic leader.

Archbishop John Du of the Palo Archdiocese lauded the President for not supporting the divorce bill recently approved by the House of Representatives.

Du, speaking through his spokesperson Fr. Chris Arthur Militante, said the Church would continue to oppose any introduction of divorce in the Philippines, considering its implications to a family.

“That is a very good comment. The President could be speaking from his first-hand experience that divorce is not good for a family,” Militante said.

The Lower House on March 19 approved on third and final reading a bill making divorce legal in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country.

But the divorce bill was opposed by President Duterte, saying having divorce in the country would be disadvantageous to the families and children.

Father Militante said the Church remains steadfast in its view that marriage is insoluble as he lambasted the congressmen who approved the measure.

“The sacrament of marriage should be preserved and defended both by the Church and the state. They should pass laws that will preserve the marriage and not to help the couples dissolve their marriage,” he said.

He urged the faithful to help them pray for those congressmen who approved the measure on divorce.